I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty comfortable being a musician. And that’s good. I don’t avoid the topic – I tell people that’s what I am and it’s what I do. And I guess now I can say I’m a recording artist too*. But then I become less comfortable. I have a hard time seeing myself as an artist of any kind!
That word conjures up visions of “real” artists like DaVinci, Rafael, Van Dyke, Mondrian, or Basquiat (don’t like my list? I’d love to know how you like better! Tell me in the comments.). And then I become full of “can’t”. I can’t draw, I can’t paint. I can’t sketch. Heck I can’t even doodle (no seriously, check any of my margins. They are all starkly blank!).
And that pile of “can’t” starts to weigh me down. If I can’t be an artist how can I call myself one?
How you look at something defines what you’ll see. Reframing is simply actively deciding to look at something differently. For instance, if I need to find a particular word on a page of text, I turn the book upside-down. Because it is now harder to read, it becomes easier to search. By reframing the problem, I have changed my perspective and thereby made finding the answer just a little bit easier.
And so, to become comfortable calling myself and artist, I have to think about reframing how I see – myself, art, as well as the various media within which I can work. Sometimes we need to push ourselves and allow ourselves to grow as artists. And that push is not just at the harp – we need to push ourselves to do what we don’t think we can…in another medium. We have to give ourselves permission to work in multiple media and possibly we’ll see growth across media!
Remember when you started playing the harp? It certainly is a forgiving instrument, but even so, there were probably times when you were sure you’d never learn to (Gliss accurately? Play harmonics? Get faster?). You were a beginner. When you’re a beginner, everything is a challenge, but you’re excited and curious and while you hope it will come easily, you sort of expect to not do it right immediately. As adults we have a much more difficult time adapting this beginner mindset and we stop allowing ourselves to be beginners – we expect a perfect try straight from the box. Which is ridiculous – we’d never expect other people to do that well on the first try, but we maintain ridiculous expectations of ourselves!
Being creative away from the harp will allow you to have room to grow. Working in another medium also means learning new things, practicing different things that you need at the harp and having to think differently – even if only briefly. Being creative in any medium will help you be more confident in your capacity to be creative. And while the skills you master may (or may not) transfer – the freedom certainly will.
I have a number of creative, artistic, free friends who make amazing art. They create knitwear that actually looks like clothing, paint pictures that look like actual scenes, take breathtaking photographs, write captivating poetry. They freely make and create and generate. They are all harpers. They create all the time.
I have learned a lot from them. OK, I’m still learning! What have I learned?
- Be Creative. As the shoes say, just do it. Stop talking (inside your head) and make!
- Don’t judge! No really.
- Be Flexible. It didn’t turn out the way you imagined? Is it still kind of cool or do you need to learn some more and try again? Either way…ok.
- Try things. Just try it – you might like it! Don’t know how to draw? Ok, well, pick up your pen and do something and keep working on it. And try again. You’re learning! (A friend also exasperatedly reminds me to go find a YouTube video to learn how to do something – she’s right, there’s videos for just about everything).
- Identify your hang-ups. What’s stopping you? I usually know I can’t do what they’re doing so I’m tempted to not try, because it won’t be good enough (reference TWO and FOUR above). Be tough here – what is r-e-a-l-l-y stopping you? Name it!
- And defeat it! Now that you have named what your hang-ups are – defeat them. Look into their metaphorically beady little eyes and tell them to pound sand!
- Be Brave. What’s the worst that can happen? Your drawing of your dog looks like a firetruck? Your photo looks less like Loch Ness and more like Loch Mess? So what? It’s not like they’re going to take away your birthday! Sneer at your inner doubter and be brave!
Being creative away from the harp in another medium will allow you to have room to grow. Being creative in any medium will help you be more confident in your capacity to be creative. And while the skills may (or may not) transfer – the freedom certainly will.
I talk a big game. I am always starting to make art in other media and get caught up in “can’t”. So, let’s set ourselves a challenge. Within the next week, make some art. It doesn’t have to be large, complicated, complex, or tortured – it just has to be yours. Take a picture of it and post it in the comments and we’ll share them next week. I say this with trepidation – because, you know, I can’t draw. But I’ll be doing it too. A doodle? A sketch? Photo from your phone that you crafted? An ashtray (are these still made in art?) Whatever you want – make it, photograph it and post it and I’ll make a gallery of our work next week. We’ll all be in this together.
UPDATE: PLEASE EMAIL YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO JENIUSCREATIONSCHALLENGE@GMAIL.COM (YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO LOAD IT INTO THE COMMENTS!).
* why yes, my cd, This Moment, is available in ShamelessSelfPromotionLand.
I enjoy creating art that has nothing to do with music, because I need to have a break from playing music, thinking about music, teaching music.
I struggle with taming my Inner Critic with music, but I can easily tell her to shut up when I’m creating visual art. I think that helps me get in the habit of telling my Inner Critic to shut up and leave me alone whenever I create any type of art.
Other media are sort of like drawing with your other hand – give a little slack just because it’s not “on”. And that can help remind ourselves the inner critic can be ignored!
I recommend that everyone stop focusing on the outcome and just engage in the process. We are so caught up comparing our “art” to everyone else’s “art” and we miss the point. The process is about self expression and learning who we are and putting it out there. If the picture sucks…. so what. What did you learn about you in the process? How did it feel to put all those angry marks on the page and get them out of your head and stopping the arguing with them.
And just a hint……. Beethoven, Picasso, Longfellow, Michelangelo all threw plenty of stuff away along the way, probably more than they put out there. They just let us see the jewels.
Donna – you have made a great point! It’s not about what we end up with but rather that we end up there! And the sharing is just about the opportunity to share with each other and to support one another through that opportunity. Like the shoes suggest – just DO something and enjoy the process and allow it to spread to your music.
how do i post pics? email to you as an attachment?
Kate – you’re right! I thought you could submit photos via the comments but you can’t. Please send your contributions to jeniuscreationschallenge@gmail.com and I’ll put them all together for next week. Please tell me if you’re submitting anonymously or if i can put your name on it!
Jen, lots of good points in this week’s blog has what’s left of my brain bouncing around all sorts of thoughts. So, this is a rather long reply.
I have a friend who years ago took beginner piano to fulfill a college fine art elective. She basically was told it was hopeless and to give it up. I always thought that was a bit sad. Unlike in my harp learning career, she obviously did not have an excellent teacher. To this day, her music abilities extend to enjoying the many concerts she attends. And that to me, is evidence of her musicality. And today, she is wonderful artist creating beauty in her life and the life of others. So, I guess art creativity and music creativity do not always go hand in hand but it’s all art!
I came to harp late in my life and someone once told me that harpers knit or crochet. I guess it must be something like cross training for the fingers. And, like any exercise program I do, I am lazy.
Art? I have teach yourself watercolor kits and even paint by number kits that are piled next to stacks of fabric squares for quilts, waiting for the day when I decide to be creative.
The day I will “ get ‘roundtoit to it “ may come sooner since now you are requesting evidence of our artistic side and I hope that you won’t be overcome by any of my creative art that could come your way.
I am sorry that someone so shortsightedly told her that! It is amazing how long we can walk around with the scars of thoughtless comments. That certainly was not teaching – rather, it was lazy and ineffective. Or perhaps it was frustration at not knowing how to connect her to the instrument effectively. I know when I feel like a student is “hopeless” that it’s really me being frustrated at myself for not having more and better ideas on how to help. I’m glad she gets such enjoyment from listening to music.
Your knitting may suffer from the same malady as mine – I came to knitting even later than I came to the harp. I have significant envy of the other harp knitters. I am happy to discount the fact that many of them have been knitting for decades (and one is a professional – she teaches and designs and does amazing things) – and simply note that they have beautiful things while I have a lot of knots. I want to be where they are but I don’t want to do the work or put in the time!
We may excel at some things and not do as well at others, but it’s in the trying that the learning happens. I love the viola but I was clearly not meant to play it. I’m ok with that since I do play the harp, and well – come one now, viola might be easier to carry but who doesn’t love to listen to the harp?
As for drawing, sketching, painting, sculpting, quilting, knitting, or any other art you might conjure for our challenge – I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you will have wrought (I just wanted to use the future perfect of that word :-)) and I’d be happy to send you a Round Toit if you need one. And fear not – I will be laughing when I take a photo of mine to post – but I will do it!